The trouble of the said die-holder frames used in this art is their rather high cost and high weight, in particular when considering that an industry for making chocolate items may use up to 1500 pouring dies complete with the respective die holders.
Another difficulty regarding the use of the above die-holder frames is given by the replacement of the pouring dies when it is wished to change the model to be poured or the product to be made (weight, blend or different shape of the finished product). In this case the pouring dies must be manually extracted from the die-holder frame to be replaced by dies of different pouring pits.
In addition, in the zone in which the poured product is subjected to the vibration step, we have the further drawback that the die, the die-holder frame and the conveyor chains are all subjected to this vibration with the therefrom ensuing generation of troublesome noise, the wearing-out of the mechanical components, while, at the same time, the efficiency of the vibrators is reduced by the impossibility of acting directly onto the die.
Further still, because of the considerable weight of the die-holder frame, the motive power required for driving the conveyor means is rather high; in addition there are negative effects regarding the thermal treatment of the dies and the product contained therein (cooling-heating) requiring thus cooling means and heating means of a considerable power.
It has already been tried before to avoid the use of the die-holder frame by placing the pouring dies freely onto supporting brackets connected to the conveyor chains.
The drawback of the known means for the free support of the pouring dies lies in the fact that it is still necessary to replace the dies by hand, that pouring dies are not locked in a safe manner to the conveying chains and that the turning over of the dies is not possible without the use of complicated auxiliary means ensuring, during the die turnover phase, the safe connection between the pouring dies and the conveyor chains.
Object of the present invention is a supporting device for pouring dies of the above-mentioned kind allowing to obviate the drawbacks part of the of the present state of the art, allowing in particular to abolish the die-holder frames, to replace automatically the pouring dies, to apply the required vibration phase directly onto the pouring dies without any vibration of the conveyor chains, reducing at the same time not only the weight but also the mass of the pouring forms together with the respective supporting device and assuring the safe operation of the supporting device also during the turnover phase of the pouring die, the whole with the perfect positioning respectively blocking of the pouring dies with regard to the conveyor chains.
The object, essential part of the present invention, is obtained by the conveyor chains for the pouring dies being provided with supporting means, each of which having a connecting and supporting section which engages a locking section provided along the sides of the dies and parallel to the conveyor chains, with each connecting and supporting section being moveable between the corresponding chain and die and being controlled by a spring.
Further details of this invention can be taken from the following description and claims and the accompanying drawings.
The object according to this invention will now be described in detail on hand of a preferred embodiment thereof given by way of example without being limited thereto and the accompanying drawings in which: